Politics & Government

Opinion: Social Media in Local Government

Communication works best when it flows both way, the author says.

One of the greatest transformations over the course of the time since I came to office in 2004 has been the rapid advances in social networking and the growing numbers of social media sites.

With so many new projects coming on line while existing ones keep expanding, we remain committed to keeping Town of North Hempstead residents informed through traditional media—radio, television, newspapers and our newly-designed website.

We want taxpayers to know that their Town government is functioning, that their taxes are being put to good use, that the financial conditions of the Town are strong, and that innovative new programs are helping out residents enjoy North Hempstead’s enviable quality of life.

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Now, as the popularity of social media skyrockets, we have been introducing the new communication mediums, such as Facebook, Twitter and bi-monthly electronic news updates, to not only keep our residents abreast of what’s going on in the Town but also to give them the opportunity to communicate to us online their concerns and ideas.

Communication works best when it flows both ways and we have already seen evidence of that in the fact that our viewership has grown exponentially in the short time period since we began using social media.

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Using Facebook, we constantly post online videos, photographs, news conferences and links to websites about all of the events happening in the Town. When the Town of North Hempstead played host to the Gold Coast International Film Festival this past June, for instance, we streamed constant feeds to our online viewership about what was taking place. Residents can now follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/townofnorthhempstead.

Our Twitter feed is our information portal that allows quick and easy-to-digest information to be processed by readers about all of the fun items happening in North Hempstead. Residents can follow us online on Twitter by searching @NorthHempstead.

Then, there is our active database of 23,000 residents that subscribe to view e-mail updates. This includes everything from our award-winning environmental initiatives, latest reminders about tax collection sites and deadlines, and even posted photos showing all the various infrastructure improvements we are doing each and every day. Residents can sign up with just the click of the mouse by going to www.northhempsteadny.gov.

Simply put, we live in a technologically-driven world which puts the onus on us as elected officials to ensure that we keep up with the new trends and find innovative ways to connect to our constituents. As Town Supervisor, I plan to continue using these new mediums to keep this administration as accountable and transparent as possible.

Jon Kaiman is the Town Supervisor of the .


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